Our first trip to play Podington – they invited us to visit as they spotted us as a result of the Rainbow Laces campaign
Hinwick Road Podington, nr Wellingborough NN29 7HU
Match report away to Podington CC 12th August 2018
This game was the last of the fixtures which resulted from invitations from the 3 teams who spotted us on Sky Sports last summer.
The weather looking iffy resulted in a game off/on scenario as we travelled north – thankfully the consensus was to go for it and play a shortened game if the weather was unkind. In the end we needn’t have worried as although we never saw the sun we never saw rain either!
Podington have a very cute ground on the edge of the village with tons of character. After meeting our hosts who were comprised of some Podington players plus guests from local clubs – One of the guests was Johnny Groome who brought his boyfriend Grant (it was great to meet them) the coin was flipped. Mahender won the toss and elected to bat on a slightly damp surface with himself and Scott opening.
Stuart then promptly fell first ball of the innings as he mistimed his shot being well caught behind – apparently this is a diamond duck! Mahender then marched in and proceeded to attack the youthful bowling attack with his usual aggression entertaining the watching Graces , including supporter Pat. Scott joined in as runs flowed.
Johnny Groome took an astonishing one handed catch to send Mahender back to the pavilion for an entertaining quickfire 20 – 36 for 2 in the 7th over. It’s great to see Noddy back and he was next in at 4. Together with Scotty he continued the positive batting – Podington rotated their bowlers but with a makeshift attack , wickets were hard to come by.
A couple of chances were dropped as Scott reached his fifty and retired. Mendis next in lacked such luck achieving a golden duck as he mistimed his first ball resulting in a high catch to Johnny G. Newton, in sooner than he thought, joined Noddy and the batting attack continued. Noddy also reached his 50 before retiring allowing Dom to come in and play an excellent cameo of 21 not out. Arshad came in at 8 when Newton was caught for a rapid 48. He was soon caught by Johnny G for a single boundary and when Leo sacrificed his wicket (apparently the 7th ball of the final over!) Graces had scored 212 in the agreed 30 overs – a defendable total.
Our innings was conducted in a great atmosphere as Podington continually teased each other with lots of banter. The teas was a spread to behold , Carol ,mother of Simon our match arranger , put it together single handed!
The Podington innings commenced in the continuing overcast conditions – the sun was not seen at all. Arshad and Newton set the tone with some tight bowling against the youthful openers keeping the score down until the first wicket went down – 27 for 1 in the 8th over.
This set the tone as Podington were unable to stay with the run rate required but their batsmen enjoyed themselves with some big hits and continuing banter. Our big total allowed Mahender to use 9 bowlers with Dom , Leo and Jonners each picking up a wicket!
Our hosts were finally all out in the 29th over for 191 with Luke top scoring with 36 so they weren’t too far off the target.
This is a fixture we definitely want to repeat next season as it was a thoroughly enjoyable game against magnificent hosts who went out of their way with hospitality at a lovely ground.
Next week we play at Old Wimbledonians captained by ex-Graces Dean – This will be a much sterner test!
